He accused them of “dumping in order to kill the French market so that they become the only suppliers”.

There has often been friction between French and Spanish producers, but Mr Barbier said the conflict had escalated to an “unprecedented level”.

French fruit growers say they cannot compete with their Spanish counterparts, whose labour costs and overheads are lower, and are in danger of going out of business completely. Mr Barbier said production of peaches and nectarines had halved in France in less than 10 years.

However, the federation of Spanish fruit growers and exporters hit back, condemning France for increasing the number of checks on Spanish trucks and arguing that Spanish farmers were not to blame for a “fruit crisis affecting all European producers”.

Mr Le Foll said France, Greece and Italy had asked the European Commission “to put in place exceptional measures” to regulate the fruit and vegetable market.

The head of another French farmers’ federation, Xavier Beulin, said Spanish producers were also dumping tomatoes, melons, cucumbers and strawberries in France.